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Living with Chickens

I really love this book — the photography is great and the writing is simple and informative. If you have any interest in chickens, this is the book for you!” — Tamara Staples, The Fairest Fowl

A White Leghorn hen struts across the yard at Tom Powers' home in South Royalton, Vt. Powers said she showed him how chickens lay eggs. Just before the egg comes out, the bird stands up.

A Columbian Wyandotte hen scratches for seeds, insects and pebbles in the woods behind the chicken coop on Carrie Maynard's property in South Royalton, Vt. Maynard said her chickens will even eat mice and frogs if they cross their path.

One hen finds a hole in the fence to her liking and gets out to stretch her legs at Tom Powers' home in South Royalton, Vt. Powers patched up the fence because the chickens were helping themselves to produce in the garden before the humans could get their share.

A White Leghorn hen poses for a portrait at Tom Powers' home in South Royalton, Vt. Powers said he's always liked chickens, and having fresh eggs is one of the three things he cherishes about living in the country — the others are picking ripe blackberries and digging potatoes out of the warm ground.

A bantam Old English Game hen — which is "cuckoo" in color — steps highly in Carrie Maynard's barnyard in South Royalton, Vt. Except for one, Maynard's bantams sleep in the rafters of the barn, protected from predators by the two draft horses who share the space with them.

Frye the piglet readies himself for bed with a flock of meat chickens at Lianne Thomashow's home in Strafford, Vt. The birds curl up with the pig for the night for warmth. The hog also has been a guard dog for Thomashow's chickens — she hasn't had a problem with predators since getting the piglet at the Fryeburg Fair in Fryeburg, Me. "He thinks he's half chicken, half dog," Thomashow said.

Living with Chickens by Jay Rossier, with photographs by Geoff Hansen

To read the caption, tap or hover over a photograph.

The photographs for Living with Chickens document the lives of chickens in New England through the seasons. Under the careful supervision of their owners, the birds are allowed to roam the woods and garden during the day. Some were fortunate to have a piglet to cozy up with at night.
Thanks are due to chicken farmers Carrie Maynard, Tom Powers and Lianne Thomashow, the Vermont Bird Fanciers Club, author Jay Rossier and especially editor Ann Treistman at The Lyons Press. — Geoff Hansen

From the Lyons Press catalog: “Chickens have long been a symbol of a good life in the country, and the idea of raising poultry is as popular as ever in today’s busy world — whether for fun or for profit. Vermonter Jay Rossier gives any future chicken farmer the tools he needs to get started, from step-by-step instructions on building the coop to a brief background on chicken biology (‘gizzard talk’); from hints on getting high-quality eggs from the hens, to methods for butchering. He draws on his own experiences and those of his fellow poultrymen in discussing how to keep marauders from the chicken coop, the benefits of homemade grain versus commercial, and how to live (and sleep) with a rooster in your midst. Personal anecdotes, interesting facts, and lush images of the birds and their landscape round out this comprehensive book.”

ABOUT

Photographer Geoff Hansen's work has been featured in publications across Vermont and the country. He is photo editor at the Valley News in Lebanon, N.H. Geoff has documented hundreds of weddings across New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) and upstate New York. He has also done photography for a dozen books, including The Joy of Keeping Chickens and Living with Pigs.

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Valley News photographs are copyrighted and used with permission. All rights reserved.